Don and Jess: The New Era
by LacytheRomanWerewolf
Summary: A new era for the Don and Jess series. Following along once more with the show. What new challenges will our couple face? FA


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Lacy here kids. I know, I didn't think I'd be back either but watching some of the current episodes of CSI NY got me going through my Don and Jess stories and realizing how much I miss them. So here's what I'm doing for me and mainly for you guys. We're taking a jump back in time, back to Pay Up. I'm rewriting what I have, don't worry the original is staying up, and I'm going to continue Don and Jess again, follow the show once more in an alternate time line from what I have already posted. I'm really excited about this and I hope you guys are too! Have fun!

Disclaimer: I own...wow, back to nothing. Hmm, feels funny.

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Hearing her alarm give off its normal irritating sound far too early in the morning, Jess reached a hand out and smacked the offending device. She was on security and moving duty for Connor Dunbrook. The weasel son of Robert Dunbrook had a court appearance and since there were a lot of people in the city who wanted to see him dead before he could testify, he needed protection. Jess personally wanted to give him a bullet proof vest and toss him in a police van with the rest of the bad guys. Unfortunately the police chief had more say then she did.

"Why on earth is that damn thing going off?"

Jess turned to look at her grumpy husband. "Sorry babe, I have protection duty for Connor Dunbrook, remember?"

Don groaned as he put his pillow over his face. "I remember."

Jess smiled and rubbed his stomach. "Go back to sleep and I'll see you at the station later."

Jess watched Don let his hand flop to his sides, leaving his pillow covering his face. She shook her head and set about getting ready to shower, idly hoping she didn't come out to find Don had suffocated himself.

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Jess looked at the food placed in front of her and suddenly wasn't hungry. She'd had a sinking feeling in her stomach since she'd left the apartment that morning and it wasn't getting any better.

With a sigh, she pushed back from the table and pulled her cell. She was hoping a phone call to Don would help.

Once he picked up, she gave a saucy line that normally would have started a very flirty, bordering dirty, conversation but instead he called her Mom, even though he knew it was her. Clearly he was busy. Or he was messing with her. She couldn't tell from his tone for once.

They quipped about how predictable her breakfast choices were, she would admit she liked the same thing for breakfast when going out. He didn't have to rub it in. The conversation went a bit further before an ear splitting crash had Jess whipping around and pulling her gun, dropping her cell in the process.

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He couldn't sit still. He kept pacing, taking his jacket off, carrying it, putting it down, sitting down, standing back up. Every thought in his head was revolving around Jess. How she looked as they wheeled her away, their last talk before she left the apartment for her shift, their phone conversation, the last time they made love. All of it was racing through his mind and he couldn't make it stop.

He couldn't lose her. They hadn't had enough time together. Married for just over a year, known each other for only four. That wasn't enough time. They still had to have their family. He wanted to see her pregnant with their babies, a little girl who looked just like her mommy with her daddy's sense of humor and a little boy with his daddy's sense of justice and his mommy's no bull attitude. They still had to go back to the beach house for the vacation they planned but never had time to take.

"Detective Flack?"

Don turned and faced one of the nurses that had been working on Jess. His stomach tightened.

"Is she okay?"

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Danny raced through the hospital corridors, praying that when he reached Don, there would be good news waiting. That the sinking feeling in his gut was just worry over Don's emotional state after his wife getting shot. He didn't know what Don would do, what any of them would do if they lost Jess. She was family, a sister to all of them, Lucy's godmother.

He shook his head as he rounded another corner. They wouldn't lose her.

Finally reaching the surgical waiting room, Danny found Don sitting in one of the chairs, his head back against the wall, tears falling down his face.

"Don,"

Don looked up and saw Danny. He swallowed. "She made it through surgery but she's lost a lot of blood and they lost her twice on the table. She has to make it through the next forty eight hours in order for them to know if she'll,"

Danny exhaled as Don stopped himself. He understood why his friend couldn't go on. But he also knew Don needed someone to be his positive voice of reason.

"She'll make it, Don." Danny said. "We both know Jess. She's a fighter and there's not a chance in hell she'd leave us behind. She won't leave Lucy without her godmother or Stel and Linds without their best friend. And she sure as hell won't leave you alone ever. You're her world, Don. She'll come back to you."

Don tried to smile and voice his thanks for Danny's words but the tears were flowing too fast so he just stood and hugged the other man. He believed Danny, he believed his words. Jess wouldn't give up. She would fight. That was the woman he married and that was the woman who would come back to him.

"Let's go find the son of a bitch who did this," Don said once his tears stopped.

Danny clapped him on the shoulder. "Let's go."

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Jess felt like she was floating. She didn't know where but she was definitely floating. She wanted to guess she was in heaven but the second the thought hit her, she shot it down. She would never leave her family behind. And there wasn't a chance in hell she'd leave Don. They hadn't had enough time yet. She was his world. To lose her would destroy him and she would never allow that to happen. So, no matter how nice the floating feeling felt, she fought against it.

She wasn't done yet.

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Jess could hear a faint beeping and what sounded like a hushed voice reading out loud.

"And the bullet, you'll never believe this, was all the way in the guy's butt. I still have no idea how it got there considering he was shot in the leg."

Sid. It had to be Sid. He was the only person who would read someone a autopsy report to an unconscious person.

Sid flipped a page in the report. "And," his head shot up when he heard a soft groan. "Jess?" he took her hand. "Jess, are you waking up?" a weak squeeze of his hand had a smile breaking out across his face. "That's our girl." he turned. "Hey doc! We got a live one!"

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Don stared down at the blank eyes of the man he'd just killed. He'd known, long before the pulled the trigger, that the first bullet he'd put in the guy would kill him. But seeing the gun he was reaching for, the gun that had Jess clinging to life, something inside Don had snapped and it was like he'd no longer had control over his actions. He just fired.

Forcing himself to look away, Don knew no one could know what he did. No one. Not even Jess when she woke up.

With that in mind, Don headed up the stairs, ready to get out of the warehouse and back to his wife's side.

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Jess smiled, unable to laugh without pain, as Sid and Adam bickered over who was truly the king of the lab.

"I'm telling you-"

"You do know there are people sleeping in this hospital, right?" Mac walked in, cutting Adam off. He saw Jess awake and smiled brightly. "But clearly not in this room. Welcome back Jess."

"It's good to be back." Jess said, her voice a bit rough. Stella handed her water before kissing her cheek. "Are the others?"

"Right here," Lindsay walked in with Danny, Hawkes and Don. "look at you. You scared us."

Jess smiled, her eyes meeting Don. "Believe me, if I could change it. I would."

Don walked to Jess's bedside and leaned down so their foreheads were touching.

"I missed you," he said softly.

Jess let her eyes shut as Don wrapped a hand around hers. "I missed you too."

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Okay, this took freakin' long enough to write but kids, the first Don and Jess story of a new era is back and we're in for one hell of a ride. Let me know what you think, flame policy stands and thanks for reading!

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